Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that there will be three new CAMHS e-mental health pilot sites nationally. One has been identified for CHO 3 and the Limerick area. I have seen this model work well in the Roscommon area. It is one of the key recommendations of the Maskey report, which resulted from the situation that occurred in south Kerry. As the Senator will be aware, an audit and a review are under way now. The audit concerns the HSE. We are auditing all 73 CAMHS teams in respect of access to them, whether they are meeting their standard operating procedures, whether the full teams are staffed and where the gaps and deficiencies are. We are also examining, for example, the issue regarding prescribing practices. In parallel to this undertaking, the Mental Health Commission is running a similar review. I hope I will have all these data available to me in the first quarter of 2023. This will give me, the Department and the HSE data we never had previously. If we have to make best practice changes, we will.

A huge amount of work is being done in CHO 3. I know the lead consultant psychiatrist there, Dr. Foley, who is doing phenomenal work. I refer again to the number of complex cases being referred in. I spoke recently about a situation where one young person was just released from CAMHS care after four years. She had 96 interventions and saw the team on 96 occasions. There are, therefore, many complex cases that need much work and support. It takes a lot of time, but my complete focus is on trying to reduce this waiting list. I thank the Senator for her suggestions. We can talk about them later.